A grand finale for any summer meal, these refreshing summer desserts will make your taste buds happy all season.
Summer is knocking on the door and with it we’re looking forward to picnics and all of our favorite summer foods.
After a day spent grilling delicious meats and veggies and feeding your crew though, it’s time to sink your teeth into something sweet and decadent.
Sweet treats are great all year long, but summer desserts just hit different.
Fresh berries and local fruit add such a wonderful, refreshing quality to summer’s best dessert recipes.
Whether it’s pie, a sheet cake, or ice cream, I am game for all of it. There’s no dessert left behind when this guy is around!
If you’re like me and filling the backyard with people for a seasonal feast is right up your alley, don’t miss these 10 refreshing summer desserts.
Bonus: Here’s one more summer recipe we know you’ll love — grilled plums with spiced mascarpone!
1
Jamie Lothridge
Peaches and Cream Pie Recipe
Sweet peaches with whipped cream and a graham cracker crust? Count me in! I’m a sucker for all things pie and peaches. Put them together and it’s a match made in heaven! This peaches and cream pie is the ultimate summer dessert. It’s light and sweet, loaded with fresh summer fruit.
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2
Amanda Powell
Banana Sheet Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe
This tasty dessert is a perfect way to use up all those extra ripe bananas that your kids swore they would eat. (And we all know they go brown much faster in the heat of summer!) The cake itself is light and fluffy, and the peanut butter frosting is to die for – a must for any peanut butter and banana lover!
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3
Julianne Bayer
Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Pie Recipe
I will fight anyone that stands in my way of peanut butter chocolate mousse. It could be The Rock and I’m going to win that battle. Don’t underestimate me. I WILL bite you. In all seriousness though, while this peanut butter chocolate mousse pie isn’t worthy of resorting to violence it is absolutely worth of writing home to your mom about. Give it a try!
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4
Jamie Lothridge
No Churn Roasted Berry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe
Why have I never thought to roast berries?! All those natural sugars get all caramelized and turn into something truly decadent. Drool! Then mixed into homemade ice cream?! I’m sold. Plus I love that this ice cream recipe is no-churn making it surprisingly simple to make at home.
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5
Kristan Roland
Rocky Road Bars Recipe
These tasty treats are just like the ice cream except much easier to transport and they don’t melt. Reminds me of a s’more with added peanuts! And I love any dessert that you can prep in advance and then slice into bars for easy serving – even better when it tastes like summer camp like these rocky road bars!
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6
Amanda Powell
Raspberry Lemon Cookie Bars Recipe
These raspberry lemon cookie bars are out of this world, combining my love of anything cookie and all things lemon. The raspberries and jam are just a delicious bonus. Since there’s fruit in these cookie bars, I’ll even eat a couple for breakfast! (If it’s fruit, it’s fair game for breakfast – we all agree on that, right?)
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7
Jamie Lothridge
Lemon Lime Cupcakes Recipe
You just can’t go wrong with citrus flavors in the summer. Citrus adds a delightful, refreshing quality to literally any dish (dessert or otherwise) that you can dream up. In this case, it’s these sweet and luxurious lemon lime cupcakes with the most amazing buttercream frosting. You don’t want to miss these ones.
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8
Amanda Powell
Banana Pudding Poke Cake Recipe
Every cake should be a poke cake. I mean, you poke holes and fill it with pudding. What is better than pudding filled cake? The answer is nothing. Nothing is better! In this case it’s a banana pudding cake that is creamy and delicious, but still somehow light and and refreshing for the hot summer heat.
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9
Amanda Powell
Skillet Brownies Recipe
Chocolate brownies are my favorite. So are cookies and pie and cake. They’re all my favorite, and this recipe is no different. It’s a simple no-fail recipe that doesn’t require a lot of prep work, which means you’ll be eating brownies sooner rather than later. Plus brownies made in a skillet is such a fun novelty – especially topped with ice cream and sprinkles!
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10
Amanda Powell
Classic French Madeleines Recipe
If you’re looking for a cookie that is a little less sweet and pairs well with coffee or tea, you need to try this recipe for classic French Madeleines. These were the “good cookies” in our house growing up and us kids weren’t allowed to touch them. I now understand why. I especially love these for summer since they aren’t overly rich, but instead strike just the right balance of sweetness.
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